A Sense of Pride
by statefarmsnake
Summary: Red and Purple get a transmission from Zim saying that the humans are planning on destroying the irken race. Though, it turns out that the transmission was a cover-up to get the Tallest to Earth so they can see something that they might enjoy. What will the Tallest think when they see Zim and his "friend" being a broad part of a certain event? Contains RaPr


A Sense of Pride

A RaPr Story

Purple looked down at his fingers as he practically wrestled the two against each other. This is something he did whenever he was in deep thought. Red was doing the same thing across the room, except he was tapping his fingers rather than pitting them against each other.

The room remained in silence for the two of them until, eventually, Purple's antennae perked up and he turned to Red. "What if I… pretend to stumble and fall on you and… we link hands and lips in front of everyone on the Massive? At first it looks like an accident, but then we somehow magically transform it into something that we did on purpose and we slowly manipulate the minds of the irkens to think that being in a romantic relationship is actually okay and we should embrace it."

Red couldn't help but let out a heavy chuckle. Earlier that day, Purple had approached him with the common concern of not wanting to hide anymore. Red did agree with him that hiding was becoming a bit… annoying for him, but they had to do it in a sense where the irkens still accepted and looked up to them. They also had to make sure that the news never made it back to the Control Brains since that would most certainly cost them their heads. "Most of the people on the ship are actually dumb enough to fall for that and eventually adapt, but I don't think everyone would just think that it's suddenly okay. They'll start talking, and some of the Elites will probably start contacting the Control Brains. I'm telling you that some of them are after our position and are looking for reasons to get rid of us."

"Then maybe we should get rid of them first," Purple said.

Red shook his head. "No… we can't do that. I don't want to say this Purple, but I think we need to hold off even longer. We just can't go around telling people this yet. Not while we're in the middle of a huge war between several different species. We need to be as strong as ever."

"You're now beginning to sound like the Control Brains," Purple said, sighing.

"Yeah… but I have to," Red said. "They contact me almost weekly, and it's as if they're trying to brainwash me into thinking like one of them. It's never going to work, but I just wish that they would stop cramming words down my throat and actually see what they're doing to their race."

"That's much too complicated for me," Purple said.

"Trust me, I don't like thinking about it, either." He thought for a moment, then eventually stood up, extending his hand out to grab Purple's. "Come on, we should get up and go do something. Maybe go on a different planet and find something to eat."

Purple sighed and grabbed Red's hand to allow him to help him stand up. Once he was on his feet, he said, "Yeah, that sounds good. I swear, this room seems to be getting smaller everyday."

"I might tell Rarl Kove to knock out the room next to ours so that we can have an extension," Red said. "We're Tallest and we have to deal with all of this, so we can at least get that."

Purple chuckled. "Sure, sure." He was prepared to exit the room when he began to hear a slight ringing sound coming from his right. He turned and noticed the general flickering of lights that meant that there was an incoming transmission.

"My Tallest," the computer said in its robotic voice. "You have an incoming transmission from… Earth. Do you accept?"

Red groaned. "Whhhy… we were so close to leaving…" He sighed and looked at Purple. "Grab the popcorn. Maybe Zim will have something funny to tell us and we'll be able to pummel him for no reason again. Actually… no, there is now plenty of reason for us to pummel him."

Purple walked over to the bed, a big box of popcorn in his hand (and some already in his mouth). "Way ahead of you." He passed over the popcorn to Red and said, "Computer, accept transmission."

The screen in front of them then turned on and a flourish of static enveloped it. A voice could be heard in the background, but it wasn't entirely distinguishable. Eventually, though, the static began to clear a bit, but it was still very apparent. "My Tallest," Zim's voice said in an echo-y fashion. It almost sounded concerning, but the Tallest were actually eager to see if Zim was actually going to be destroyed on his mission. It was an interesting thought, especially since he had been on that planet for so long.

"My Tallest, can you hear me. This is Invader Zim reporting from planet Earth. I have been found out by a series of humans and they are now threatening me and the irk…" The video feed cut out for a moment, but then it was recovered. "-hey have this… bomb thingy, and they're planning on sending it yo-…" Static heavily engulfed the feed before eventually showing Zim's face again. "You should see the technology that they have, my Tallest. It turns out that I was foolish for underestimating their power and intelligence. It seems they have been hiding far much more than we anticipated. The irken race may cease to exist if you don't act quickly. The irken race may be doo-…."

The feed was cut once again, but after that, it never returned. Only the sound of static remained as the Tallest simply stared at the screen, deliberating what they were going to say. "Okay… let's not panic just yet," Red said. "We have no idea how serious this is. The humans could have just used some scare tactics on Zim in order to get him to talk. That's very common for species to do… though, the humans are very stupid, so who knows."

"Well, what if he's right?" Purple asked. "I mean… I don't think that he's right or anything, but that's a pretty significant threat, and Zim claims to be really powerful. He wouldn't admit defeat this easily unless he was absolutely certain that there was going to be some significant destruction."

Red thought about it for a moment, and figured that Purple's words were actually relatively sound. "Okay… well, then there's a good way of going about this. Don't alert anyone yet. Just tell people that we're going to Foodcourtia for something to eat. We'll take the Speed Cruiser so that we can get there quickly and undetected. If they were actually sending us bombs and ships, then we'd probably see them on the way."

"That's a good idea," Purple said, opening the door for Red. "Come on, let's go."

The two of them exited the room and Red quickly remarked, "Rarl, we're going to Foodcourtia to eat something. You're in charge of the idiots."

Rarl Kove simply gave them a sad look as he saw all of the irkens behind them. They were clearly in the middle of tossing Bobby, one of the service drones, around like a ball on a tennis court. He knew he should do something about it since Bobby had a short temper, but he wasn't in the mood for taming a bomb.

Red piloted the Speed Cruiser into the Milky Way Galaxy. He was starting to feel hopeful since he didn't see anything dangerous or deadly on the way over there. But that didn't mean that Earth wasn't still preparing to launch an attack, so he knew that he needed to land on the surface in order to get a closer look. "Send a transmission to Zim's portable transmitter. If he's still alive, then he should be able to give us some crucial information."

Purple nodded. "I can't believe that I'm actually looking to Zim for what can be considered 'crucial information'." Purple touched the console and made a contact for Zim before sending off a transmission to Zim's personal transmitter. He waited several moments, but finally Zim picked up on the other end. He seemed a bit tamer than before. In fact… Zim seemed almost perfectly healthy.

"Hello, my Tallest," Zim said. "It's good to see you again. Zim has managed to escape and stop any form of attack. But I need some help in order to keep it from happening in the future. I'm sending you my coordinates right now."

"Thank you, Zim," Purple said. "We'll take it from here." He shut off the transmission. Shortly after he did, a set of coordinates showed up on-screen.

Red turned to Purple as he put the coordinates into the autopilot. "Am I the only one that thinks that this is a bit odd right now?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Purple asked.

"Purple… Zim is known to be one of the most incompetent invaders ever, but how could he possibly miss a detail like the human race hiding secret military technology that can match the irken race? After all that Zim's done in the past, don't you think that he would've been blown up by now?"

"You're thinking too hard on it, Red," Purple said. "Because keep in mind, Zim would not have contacted us unless he was absolutely certain that there was a threat against the irken race. He may be stupid, but he's at least dedicated."

"Yeah, either that or he just made all of that stuff up in order to get us down there," Red said, chuckling a bit.

Purple knew that Red was joking to lighten the mood, but… then he really thought about what Red said. He looked at Red and noticed that he was giving him the same look. They were certainly thinking the same thing. Purple turned to the front. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to take his PAK and snap it in half."

"I swear to Irk," Red said. "Zim's really going to pay this time." He went down to the coordinates that Zim gave them and immediately put an extra layer of a cloaking device so that they weren't spotted. Once they landed their ship, Red handed Purple a disguise device, allowing him to transform into a human. Red did the same to himself before eventually stepping out of the cockpit.

As it stood, two humans (one light-skinned, the other slightly darker) stepped out onto Earth only to discover a bunch of other humans rallying about… something. There were so many in one spot and it concerned Red and Purple a little. "What are they… all doing here?"

Purple looked at Red a little, then went down to his holo-tablet to do a scan of the surrounding area. "It says that we are in the middle of a human political center. Washington D.C." He looked around for a moment before pointing to a large, white building. "That's what is known as the Supreme Court. Apparently it makes laws for the entire planet."

"So this is why Zim sent us here," Red said. He turned to Purple. "But why? If Zim wanted us to get down to see his dirty work, don't you think he would've taken us to his base?"

Purple blinked. "Maybe this is his 'brilliant' plan." He pointed to the building again. "If he was going to do something terrible and do a lot of damage in the process, then this would be a good place to start. Maybe he wanted us to watch personally."

"We gotta stop guessing," Red said. "We need to find him and get some answers, otherwise this is just going to continue to bother me. We need to get back to the Massive if this whole thing turns out to be a dud."

"I agree," Purple said. They went through the crowds of people as they approached closer and closer to the Supreme Court. Many of the crowds went in bunches, shouting words of encouragement that Red and Purple didn't quite understand. Many of them were also waving a series of flags, some of them with a variety of colors on them in a striped fashion; a rainbow. Others having equal signs in the center. "Whatever they're rallying, it must be big," Purple said. "Either that, or it's very easy to get a human excited."

"Well, now I'm just getting curious," Red said. He tapped one of the humans on the shoulder. He appeared to be one of the people who gave speeches to his groups. He had a device that amplified his voice. "Can you give me a… speech on what's going on here?"

"I sure can," the burly man said. He was wearing a rainbow shirt, much like the flag he was carrying, and he had decent muscle tone throughout. It made Purple feel rather scrawny. The other thing that Red kept noticing was that there was another gentleman that was consistently clinging to his arm, though he didn't say anything.

"We are here today to relish in the sanctity of love, and to show that we as humans have rights to love and cherish whomever we want. We stand here today because we want there to be change, and we will not allow someone else to decide our fate, even if it means that we have to keep on fighting. We rally here today because we want to do what's right and protect our loved ones from the oppression of our kind. The LGBT kind. We should all be able to love whomever we want."

Red simply stared at him as he went through his spiel, thinking about every word individually… then together. He then watched as the man kissed the person that was holding tightly to him. It was so strange to Red… but then he came to some realization. "Thank you," he said before dragging Purple to the side. "Did you hear what he just said?"

Purple shook his head. "No, I was kinda distracted and I zoned out a little."

Red sighed as he looked around at everyone. "The humans are dealing with the same problems that we are. I had no idea that there was another species that restricted love like the irkens and the Control Brains do. Everyone else sees it as some kind of motivator, or a social augmentation. But… even the humans can't seem to comprehend that."

Purple simply stared at Red for a moment. "Well… that's great and all, but what does that mean? We are here to find Zim, remember? What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's just that… I was thinking… maybe… you know that… well…" He groaned and grabbed Purple's hand. "Oh, never mind. I'll tell you later. We're getting closer to Zim, so let's just go find him."

Red and Purple brought along a device that latches onto an irken's PAK signature, so they would be able to find Zim in the midst of the crowds, even if he was wearing a disguise. Though, only after getting very close to the dot with an irken signature… they realized something.

"Wait, why are there two dots on the screen?" Purple pointed out.

Red looked down at the screen to see what Purple was referring to, though… he didn't get very far before eventually bumping into someone. Red was a bit confused at first, but then he put his holo-tablet away to see a short, green human standing in front of him. It was very obvious that he was irken-based due to his shape and green skin, though… Zim wasn't that fat. Red knelt down and got a good look at the irken before eventually asking, "Skoodge?"

Skoodge took a quick step back as he stared at the tall humans in front of him. Most of them were very tall, but none of them were quite so… intimidating. Skoodge was wearing his uniform like normal, but he was now wearing red eye sockets and a hair piece. Skoodge's hair piece was normally blonde… though now it was flashy with rainbow colors, much like the flag that he was carrying in his right hand. Skoodge… was rallying along with the rest of the humans. "W-who are you? How do you know my name?"

"Skoodge… I'll ask the crazy questions later, but I'm actually Tallest Red," he said. "I'm in a disguise right now. Zim sent me and Purple a transmission saying that Earth was threatening to destroy him and the irken race."

Skoodge blinked. "Oooh, no…" he said, his expression drooping. "Oh, I am so sorry, my Tallest. That wasn't supposed to happen. I had no idea that Zim would actually do it. We were just joking around and he promised that he would not send any transmissions to you, but he did it anyways. I am really, really sorry, my Tallest. Please don't hurt me. I can go find Zi-…"

Red put a finger on Skoodge's lips for a moment and said, "You talk too much, Skoodge. Can you just tell me why Zim decided it would be a good idea to contact with such big news? He should know that faking an attack like that is really matters… not that it matters, he's already banished anyways."

Skoodge sighed. "Zim and I heard about this event happening in front of the human's law building about the creation of love for all humans. We wanted to see what it was all about, and we soon realized that it was something that Zim and I could… utilize in our own personal lives. And then Zim came up with the idea that you two would be interested in coming to this event as well."

Red blinked as he looked up at Purple, who had a strange expression on his face. He turned back to Skoodge and asked, "Why would he think that?"

Skoodge looked down and rubbed his feet against the ground and continued, "Well… you know the last transmission you sent to Zim last month? You… thought that you ended it, but you kept it on. I ended up stepping into the room as Zim watched and heard… sounds coming from the background. And it turns out that you two we-…"

Red stuffed his entire hand onto Skoodge's face. "Stop! I heard enough! You got to listen to the entire thing?"

Purple knelt down next to Red and exclaimed, "Even the part when I-…"

"Yes, my Tallest," Skoodge said. "Zim and I found it rather interesting that you are so… flexible."

Red groaned and stood up. "I can't believe this is happening." He walked around for a moment as Purple stayed kneeled down.

"Well, what happened after that?" Purple asked. "After you two came here?"

"Well, we joked about calling you and saying that we were being attacked since we knew that you wouldn't come for something like this," Skoodge said. "And it turns out that Zim did just that. He wasn't supposed to. I told him not to."

"Yes, you already said that," Purple said. Purple thought for a moment, looking at Red who still seemed relatively distraught at the moment. He turned back at Skoodge and asked, "Wait… hang on. You knew that Red and I might like this, but… why are you here? Why would you and Zim be, at all, interested in this?"

"Well… you see…"

Skoodge was cut off by a voice in the background. They were being approached by yet another short green irken who going through a crowd with something in his left hand. "Skoodge, the humans gave me some more of that cotton candy stuff. If you promise not to talk too much in the Voot Cruiser on the way home, then Zim promises to share _some_ of it with you." Zim went over to Skoodge, a LARGE cotton candy in his hand. "Who are you talking to?"

"Zim… this is Tallest Purple. I thought you said you wouldn't call them. They're probably thinking about killing us right now."

"Actually, no we're not," Purple said. "I'm going to be honest with you and say that I'm more confused than I am upset."

"Hello, my Tallest," Zim said. "I deeply apologize that I had to bring you here in this way, but I felt that it was of the utmost importance."

"And why's that?" Purple asked.

"Because… I wanted to prove something."

"And what's that?" Purple asked.

Zim blinked and then thought for a moment. "Maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private."

"That doesn't sound very good," Purple said, feeling a bit concerned.

"It's nothing to be concerned about, my Tallest," Skoodge said.

Purple sighed. "Fine." He stood up again and grabbed Red. "It's no big deal, Red. Just cool off."

Red grunted, but eventually went off with Purple. Zim and Skoodge led them off to a corner where there weren't very many people. "What do you need to tell us?" Red eventually asked.

Zim looked up at both of his Tallests. He never expected to be in such a situation, but he had to suck it up and be stronger. Otherwise, he would not be able to change and move on. "Zim… and Skoodge are in a… courtship of some kind."

Red and Purple blinked before looking at each other. They looked back at Zim and Skoodge and began to chuckle a little. "Wait, are you serious? You two? I would've never expected anything like that. Skoodge, you actually like Zim?"

Skoodge nodded his head. "Yeah, I do." He cleared his throat and looked at Zim for a moment before looking back at his Tallest. "Listen… the details behind all of this are endless. I don't think I'd be able to explain it."

Purple nodded, thinking for a moment. "Normally, we would bug you a lot about it, but… well, Red and I are having the same problem. This thing has been lasting for a long time, even before we became Tallest. And we can't do anything about it… or talk about it. Or anything. The Control Brains would kill us if they found out the kind of things that we've been doing together."

Zim nodded. "We have been having a similar issue… Skoodge and I don't do the… eccentric kinds of things that we figure that you two do…" Red grunted again; Purple calmed him down. "But, we still have irken blood and we have… weird feelings for each other, and that still makes it weird."

"But then we heard about this event," Skoodge said. "And we figured we'd see what it's like."

"What it's like to be out in the open for once?" Red asked. "How's that going for you?"

Skoodge's expression remained the same. "It's… different. But I like it."

Purple looked at Red again and said, "Well… we like it too. It's refreshing, actually."

"I'm actually surprised to hear you say that, my Tallest," Skoodge said. "I thought you would be far madder."

Red nodded. "We were at first," Red said. "On the way over here when we thought that we were deceived, we were prepared to chop Zim's head off. But… do you really think that we actually enjoy staying on the Massive and looking over a bunch of irkens who practically have the intelligence of smeets? We don't, and… maybe we've forgotten how nice it is to leave all of that behind in order to have time to ourselves."

"Well, we're glad that we could help you find that, my Tallest," Zim said, feeling proud of himself.

"Hey, don't think that you're fully off the hook, Zim," Purple said. "You still lied, and we might pummel you later for doing that."

"But… we'll lighten up on the pummeling this time," Red said. "Because at least you've done something right in the end for once." He wanted to say something more, but then he heard a loud roar of commotion coming from behind them. There were loud cheers coming from the crowd closest to the court. Red turned and asked, "What's going on?"

"They might have come to a decision," Skoodge explained.

"We should check it out," Red said. He took Purple's hand in his own. He didn't notice himself do it, almost as if it were instinct. Purple surely liked having Red's hand. They went quickly towards the front of the crowds, Zim and Skoodge trailing slowly behind them.

The cheers only served to get louder as they got closer and closer, and all of the talking was entirely incoherent. Though, as Red listened to all of the speeches individually and watching everyone on a personal scale, he began to piece everything together. They had done it. They had gotten the support that they were looking for. Couples were kissing everywhere, and people were running and shouting with glee. He had never seen such an uproar from so many people before, and he was a Tallest of a huge irken race.

"Red, what is going on?" Purple asked.

Red turned to Purple, a completely different expression on his face. It was subtle, but there was actually a small smile forming as he looked at Purple. As if in response to Purple's question, he brought himself forward and began to kiss him on the lips. Purple was shocked by the sudden action, but he didn't deny the kiss. He loved how it felt to do this with Red in such a public place without having to feel bad or feel that they were going to get prosecuted or killed.

Skoodge gave Zim the same look, but clearly Zim wasn't in the same boat as Skoodge. Skoodge was slightly more romantic than Zim was, and Zim wasn't the touchy-feely type. So… in order to appease Skoodge, Zim simply gave him a gentle headbutt to show his affections.

The four held there for several moments, listening to the chants of the many crowds surrounding them.

Skoodge, Zim, Red, and Purple stopped in front of Red and Purple's Voot Cruiser. "It's a shame that you have to leave so soon, my Tallest," Skoodge said.

"Believe us, we'd like to stay," Purple said. "But Rarl Kove just called to let us know that he was tied to a pole in the middle of the ship and we need to go save him."

Red watched as Purple piled some things into the ship before turning back to Zim and Skoodge. "Don't tell anyone this, but… we'll be back. If this is what Earth is going to be like… if this is what they can provide us, then we'll definitely be back."

"I'll eagerly await your return, my Tallest," Zim said before saluting. Skoodge saluted along with him.

Red simply chuckled. After what they've gone through on that day, he found it a bit weird to see Zim and Skoodge still act so formally around him. He turned around and went over to Purple. "Ready to go?"

Purple nodded his head and said, "Yeah, let's go." He kissed Red on the cheek before stepping inside.

Red turned around to face Zim and Skoodge before waving at them and stepping inside of the Voot Cruiser. They closed it and began to float away from the planet.


End file.
